A/N: Written for the vm_have_a_day challenge. My prompt is at the end. I went through several concepts and settled on this crackedy crack!fic of an idea. Heaven help us all! Hugs and kisses to my beta havemy_heart who, while she does not share my obsession with all things figure skating (although she does admit that John Zimmerman is just HOT), did agree that this would make for some entertaining crack!fic. I have to admit that the story ended up taking itself much more seriously than planned, which is why there a lot of build-up to the actual "day" in question. *laughs*

Each [ * ] represents the passage of various amounts of time.

X-posted to vm_have_a_day, veronicamarsfic, and veronicalogan. Yes, I love figure skating and all things related to it. *laughs* Enjoy the fluff! And remember, feedback is *love* <3!

Damn. He was going to have to learn this one’s name.

Logan had stopped keeping track of the girls that his mom brought in for him to skate with. He could tell within two minutes of taking the ice with a girl whether she would work or not—things either “clicked” or they didn’t. Instead of learning their names, he came up with his own monikers instead—Sweaty Armpit Girl, The Rack, Grip of Death, things like that. Until now.

This tiny blonde girl had seemed like shyness personified when she walked into the rink and Logan had preemptively blown off the audition as another in the series of torture sessions through which he had to suffer. But then they got on the ice together and something had happened. Her on-ice personality was nothing like the one that had walked through the rink doors and Teeny Blonde, as he was going to call her, came alive in his arms.

Their bodies fit together perfectly, their side-by-side toe flips were exactly in sync, and their pairs spin? Flawless.

Logan had started to think that his mother would have to abandon the idea of him being a pairs skater. Every coach that he had told his mother that with upper-body strength like his Logan needed to be in pairs, which was okay with the 12-year-old, who was just beginning to discover girls. His mom liked the idea because the pairs skating heap in the U.S. was much easier to climb to the top of than either men’s or women’s singles, and Lynn wanted her son to be a champion.

His mother had gotten him onto the ice when he was six. She refused to let him play hockey because it was too dangerous (which he found to be hysterical given his father’s tendencies) and Logan had gone along with it because it was time spent away from his father in which he got to have his mother to himself. He had done moderately well in boys’ singles competitions, but he and his mom had both finally accepted that his real future was most likely to depend on him getting a partner.

So for the past eight months they had been flying girls in from all over the country (Lynn wanted an American) to try out with him and none of them worked. The girls were too short, too tall, too heavy, weak skaters, whatever. There was always something wrong, which was really too bad for the girls. Lynn made being partners with her son a very attractive prospect. Figure skating was an extremely expensive sport and Logan’s mom was willing to foot the bill if the perfect partner needed financial assistance. That alone had girls who had never considered pairs before calling up for a try-out. But Lynn wanted the perfect partner for her son, not just an “acceptable” one and no one fit the bill—until Teeny Blonde and her father walked in.

As Logan and Teeny Blonde finished their series of practice moves and skated over to the side of the rink where their parents and his coach were watching, Lynn was jumping up and down while clapping her hands; Joseph Collier, Logan’s coach, looked dumbstruck; and Teeny Blonde’s father seemed on the verge of tears.

Right before they reached the edge of the rink, Logan turned to the girl at his side.

“What was your name again?”

“Veronica,” answered Teeny Blonde.

Yeah. He was gonna have to remember it.

*

Veronica watched from across the room as Logan and Lilly raced out of the Kane living room and into Lilly’s bedroom, no doubt in her mind as to what they were about to start doing. She sighed.

Veronica and Logan had been partners for three years and she had been achingly in love with him every single minute of that time. He, however, liked her flashy, sexy singles skater of a best friend, Lilly Kane. Veronica wondered if she might have been able to get Logan to see her in a more romantic way if Lilly hadn’t been around. It was pointless to speculate. Lilly was around, so whenever Veronica wasn’t on the ice, she might as well have been invisible to her partner.

Duncan, Lilly’s brother, kept trying to get Veronica to go out with him, but Veronica wasn’t interested. Lilly tried to convince her friend to try it. The older girl told Veronica that she needed to live a little, experience life off of the ice some more. Veronica didn’t disagree—she just didn’t want to do it with Duncan.

On the ice she and Logan had a magical relationship. Their first year together the couple had taken second place at the Junior U.S. Nationals Championships. Their second year, they had won Nationals and taken third at the Junior Worlds, not a common occurrence for the U.S., which lagged behind the rest of the world in pairs skating. This year they had again won Junior Nationals and were now preparing for their third trip back to Worlds in what would be their last appearance as juniors. Their parents and coach had decided that they were ready to move up to senior level.

Seriously, though, while Logan and Veronica were amazing when they skated together, off the ice it was like she didn’t exist. Veronica wasn’t even sure if Logan considered her to be his friend. As soon as she changed out of workout clothes, Logan’s attention turned to Lilly or Duncan or whomever happened to be standing there. So when she hung out with Logan and the Kanes, Veronica pretended to enjoy herself, but in truth all she did was watch Logan while trying to avoid Duncan’s advances. It was a difficult balancing act.

Duncan brought over two bowls of ice cream and sat down next to Veronica. Handing one to her, he picked up the remote and looked at the blonde at his side.

“Ready to start the movie?”

Allowing herself one last look in the direction of the recently departed Logan and Lilly, Veronica turned around, took the second bowl of ice cream and moved so that Duncan’s thigh was no longer touching her own.

“Sure.”

*

“That was CRAP!!” yelled Joseph. “Why am I bothering?!” Their coach looked like he was about to blow an aneurysm as his mouth worked but no words came out. Neither Veronica nor Logan had ever seen the man so angry—and that was saying a lot—but they couldn’t blame him. Their skating was sucking. Hard core. Primarily because of Logan.

Before, no matter how out-of-control he seemed elsewhere, Logan always put it together as soon as he put on his skates and took off for center ice. Unfortunately, after Lilly’s death and Aaron’s subsequent arrest, Logan had fallen apart in every aspect of his life, not just the ones outside of the rink.

If he had been aware enough to do so, Logan would have acknowledged that Joseph’s temper tantrum was long overdue. Any other coach would have dropped them after their humiliating showing at Worlds, but Joseph believed in his skaters, he cared about them as people and he knew how hard Lilly’s death had been on them. So when it was time to start practicing for the new season, Joseph had returned. And now it looked like Joseph was done. Unable to generate further speech, their coach stormed out of the rink, leaving Logan and Veronica alone in the empty building.

Logan had barely spoken to his partner during the offseason, choosing instead to bury himself in alcohol and video games. Veronica had tried to approach him, but he had blown her off like he had everyone else. And now it was Veronica’s turn to have had enough.

She turned to Logan, disgusted. “You’re an idiot.”

“What?” he gave his partner a strange look.

Veronica’s voice started low and got louder. “You knew who Lilly was when you were dating her. And now you’re all devastated because she had an affair with your father? What’s the difference? I mean, who else was there? She had already slept with everyone else in the skating world—he was the only person left!” Her final accusation was yelled at her partner.

Logan was dumbstruck. Who was this person and what had she done with his partner? And what did she just say?

As though she had heard his unvoiced questions, Veronica raged on. “You heard me! Do you want me to care because Aaron beat you? Oh, don’t look so shocked. You may not have noticed, but I’ve been your partner for four years, you imbecile! I know you better than your own mother and I sure as hell know you better than Lilly ever did! Was I supposed to not notice that every time you did something stupid, you were all stiff the next day? I learned what spots he aimed for, Logan. You never noticed that I was being careful around you because you never notice anything about me!” Veronica’s eyes were blazing and Logan felt like he was under some kind of weird spell. He couldn’t have looked away if his life had depended on it.

“Don’t you get it?!” Logan realized that Veronica was slowly moving towards him and that he was gliding backwards. How long had he been doing that? Bam! His backside met the boards on the side of the rink. Longer than he had realized, obviously. “Bad things happen, Logan! You can’t control other people! All you can control is yourself and your skating! You can take charge of things out here on the ice. All of that crap out there—Lilly, your dad, my mom—oh, that’s right. Did you even notice that my mom left my dad and me? No, because you’ve been so busy at your own pity party that you never stopped to notice that I lost my mother! You’re such a jerk!” Veronica took a deep breath and shoved her finger up against Logan’s chest.

“I’ve been looking forward to coming back to the rink since the day we left. The rest of my life sucks, but out here I get to be in charge and I get to love my life.” She raised her finger to his face. “You’re destroying that. Get over yourself.” Veronica moved to her left, stepping around Logan and off of the ice.

Logan spun around, catching himself on the edge of the rink and watching as his partner took off her skates.

As Veronica stood up to leave the seating area and head for the dressing room, she looked at her partner one more time.

“You have to stop hating yourself for loving them.” She took a deep breath. “What we have on the ice is special. Stop being stupid and let it help you.” She turned around and left.

Logan stood motionless long after Veronica had disappeared from sight. Then he turned and slid down the wall until he was sitting on the ice. He didn’t even notice as the freezing surface soaked through his sweatpants. Who was this girl that was his partner? She had never spoken to him like that before. Had he ever really known her?

As he sat on the ice, his rear end getting colder by the minute, Logan realized that he could get all introspective about why he had been sucking so badly. He could dwell on the fact that he had been completely responsible for their horrific performance at Worlds—at which he had dropped her out of a lift, caused her to fall on the throw by sending her off with too much force, singled his double axle and completely screwed up his footwork sequence. And yes, he had known that Lilly was sleeping around, but he had figured it was the best that he could do, maybe that he even deserved it. Yeah, he could dwell on all of those things, or he could accept what Veronica had said and get over it. Use the ice to move on.

Fine, he thought to himself. Life’s short. Bring it on.

Everything changed after that. The next morning at practice the moves that had plagued Logan for a week were perfect in an hour and he was ready to advance. If Joseph and Veronica were surprised, they didn’t comment. Instead, they moved on, too.

It used to be that Joseph was the one doing the yelling at practice. Now Logan and Veronica yelled at each other instead. The raised voices weren’t mean-spirited, they were determined, they were pushy, they were demanding. Their talent and chemistry had taken them to the top of the junior pairs heap. Logan quickly realized that their new relationship could help them to do the same in seniors.

Every day during the summer they spent eight hours training—six hours on the ice, two in various forms of conditioning. They worked with personal trainers, they ran, they took modern dance, they even surfed—everything done to improve their game and give them an edge. Their only day off was Sunday, not out of religious desires, but because their coach insisted on them taking a day off to rest.

One Sunday morning about two weeks before school started and seven weeks after they had finally gotten themselves into gear, Logan woke up late. He had come to enjoy Sundays as his day to relax, kick back, not work out, do whatever. On this particular morning, Logan put on swim trunks and a tank top and headed out to the pool.

He was in no way prepared for the sight of Veronica sunbathing in a strapless bikini poolside. He tripped and almost fell. After recovering his balance, he stood there staring. Veronica had full run of their house, but, um, she didn’t usually look like that. Just weeks earlier, Logan had come to the conclusion that in all their years of being partnered he had never really known Veronica. He had taken their time on the ice for granted because it was the one part of his life that had worked. Now that he was finally having to work for it, he was seeing Veronica for the first time.

He hadn’t seen her like this, though.

Logan walked around the pool and looked down at his partner. The chair sagged under both of their weights as he sat down facing her.

“Nice swimsuit,” he said.

Without opening her eyes she answered. “No tan lines on my shoulders.”

“How long have I been in love with you?”

Veronica opened her eyes. “Since I told you off after practice.”

Logan looked his partner in the eye. “How long have you been in love with me?”

This time she paused. “Longer.”

“So what, you’ve been waiting for me to figure it out?”

“Pretty much.”

“Is this going to change things? On the ice?”

“I don’t know. Can we still fight?”

Logan smiled. “I think that can be arranged.”

“Logan.”

“Yeah?”

“Do you always talk this much before you kiss someone? Because that could get—“ Logan’s mouth covered hers and conversation stopped.

*

Joseph was more concerned about his charges’ new relationship than they were. He needn’t have worried. If anything, Logan and Veronica’s skating chemistry increased as their off-ice relationship heated up. As the season began, their new routine based around the soundtrack of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean took off, a hit with the crowds and judges alike.

By the time they got to Nationals, every aspect of their skating had improved. Their synchronicity was better, their jumps were stronger, their transitions were cleaner, their lines could still use a little work, but overall they were at the peak of their performing ability. They skated the performance of their lives and came in fourth. If it hadn’t been for the previous year’s meltdown at Worlds they probably would have ended up on the podium, but skating is a strange sport. Even with the new rules, judges were slow to forgive missteps of the magnitude that Logan and Veronica had made and it showed in their scores.

While they were disappointed, neither the skaters nor their coach were completely surprised. In truth, the fact that they placed as high as they did was a testament to how well they had skated both that night and during the season. After taking a few weeks off, Logan and Veronica went back to the drawing board determined to come up with an even more fabulous routine for the following season. They hired a new choreographer and set their new long program to the soundtrack from the Star Wars movies.

Their senior year they continued to improve and the two years after graduation even more so. They climbed in the U.S. national rankings as they enrolled in college part-time and kept up their training scheule. Their second year as senior skaters, they placed second at Nationals and earned a trip to the Worlds where they placed fifth, virtually unheard of in the U.S. for a pairs’ first time competing at the highest level. They actually finished higher than the couple that won the U.S. Nationals. The following year they won Nationals and landed on the podium with the bronze at Worlds and when the Olympic season rolled around, both Veronica and Logan decided to take a year off from college in favor of training harder than ever before.

At the peak of their performing abilities both mentally and physically, Logan and Veronica were the U.S.’s best chance at a pairs figure skating medal since Jill Watson and Peter Oppegard had taken the bronze in Calgary in 1988. For over 40 years the Russians had dominated pairs skating, followed closely in recent years by the Chinese. Americans love their figure skaters, though, and the prospect of having contenders in pairs skating created an excitement usually reserved for ladies’ singles.

Their time off of the ice hadn’t been without hiccups. Logan and Veronica were both passionate people and they were passionate about each other. They found themselves on the ice, though, and they poured every ounce of their emotions and feeling into each other and into their routines when they were out there. If skating together made their love life more difficult, it also made it possible.

After breezing to a win at Nationals, they began the most intense training of their lives as their Olympic trip to Vancouver drew closer. Their jumps were some of the strongest in the world, ranked at or near the level of the Chinese skaters. What kept them off of the top level of the podium in major competitions was their artistry. While no on else in the U.S. could even begin to compare with Echolls and Mars, the two of them weren’t on quite on par with the Russians.

Working with Ellie Carinas, their choreographer of three years, Logan and Veronica worked on their sizzling program set to the music of The Mask of Zorro. Capitalizing on her skaters’ naturally explosive chemistry, Ellie had put as much of their sexual electricity on the ice as she possibly could. Logan and Veronica loved the routine and put their hearts and souls into it.

The Sunday night two weeks before they left for Vancouver, Logan was nervously pacing back and forth in their house. He had decorated the living room and kitchen with long-stemmed candles and flowers and had ordered a gourmet meal that was now attractively arranged on their formal dining table. He and Veronica had been living together for a year now and his girlfriend and partner had turned their beach house into a home. He heard Veronica come in the door and his stomach twisted into a big knot.

“Wait until you see what I got!” Veronica called. “You’re gonna love it!”

She walked into the dining room, bags still in hand and stopped dead in her tracks. The beautiful table, Logan wearing a tie—Veronica’s breath caught in her throat as the bags fell to the floor.

“What is this?”

Logan crossed to the girl of his dreams and got down on one knee. Veronica immediately started to cry.

“I love you, Veronica. Every day I wake up and I’m amazed that you love me back. I love skating with you. If I woke up tomorrow, though, and I couldn’t skate anymore, it would be okay as long as I knew that you were still there by my side.” He took Veronica’s hand in his as tears rolled down her face. “Will you marry me?”

“Yes!” she cried through her tears and Logan pulled a velvet box out of his pants pocket and opened it. “It’s beautiful!” she managed to get out through her sobs.

Logan put the ring on his fiancée’s finger and pulled her down onto his knee. With his thumbs he wiped away her tears and then he brushed his lips across hers.

“When did you find the time to do all of this?!” she asked with a happy sniffle, gesturing to the room and the food.

“Joseph, Ellie and your father all helped,” Logan answered as he lowered his forehead to hers.

“They did?” she smiled.

“Guess they think we work well as a team,” he laughed before kissing her deeply.

When they finally got around to eating dinner, the food had long gone cold and had to be reheated in the microwave.

So worth it.

*

Pairs figuring skating is the first figure skating event at the Olympics and was usually considered to be something of a “warm-up” by the American press. They didn’t roll out the big guns until they got to the marquee event, the ladies’ singles skate. Vancouver was different, though—pairs figure skating fever had engulfed the nation. Not only did the U.S. finally have a chance to medal for the first time in 22 years, but the couple in question was serious eye candy. Around the world, figure skating’s predominately female fan base put pictures of Logan Echolls and Veronica Mars up on their walls, emphasis on the shots where Logan’s arm muscles bulged while holding Veronica aloft, thank you very much.

If that wasn’t enough, Olympic news teams around the world were having a field day with the backstory. It wasn’t every day that the son of an international-action-hero-turned-statutory-rapist-and-murderer was partnered with the murdered girlfriend’s best friend in any sport, much less in the blue ribbon event that was figure skating. The press went to town, covering Logan and Veronica’s every move, putting together “special moment” vignettes, the whole nine yards. While the pair was used to high-level scrutiny, this was something else entirely and the announcement that they were now engaged kicked the attention level up a notch, as if that had even been possible.

Joseph was there, though, as were Logan’s mom and Veronica’s dad, reminding them of why they were there and helping them to stay grounded. After his father had been jailed for life, Logan’s relationship with Lynn had gotten even closer and she was thrilled for her son both personally and professionally. Veronica and her father also enjoyed their special relationship and with his support and the love that they both got from the people who truly cared about them, they soldiered through the media frenzy and managed to keep their eyes on the prize.

Their primary competition came from the Russian pair with the best artistry in the sport, Balk and Abramova, and the technically amazing Chinese pair, Liang and Han. In the short program, Veronica and Logan skated about halfway through the order. They did a good job, executing all of the required elements and holding their own artistically. By the end of the day, their performance had landed them in third place going into the long program.

As they stood backstage waiting to go on, Veronica trailed her hand down Logan’s face and they stared into each others’ eyes, neither of them saying a word. Joseph saw them standing together and though this was the moment where the coach traditionally came in and gave the big speech, he knew that Logan and Veronica were saying more than he ever could and that his best move would be to let them focus on each other. This was their day.

The stage manager called out, “Echolls and Mars!”

They skated out to center ice together, the connection between them stronger than ever. Their first element was a side-by-side triple flip and they nailed it, the crowd going wild. From there it only got better. Every time Logan put his hands on Veronica, he felt like he could see the charge between them. The audience felt the same way and by the time they neared the end of their program, the crowd was on its feet.

All of the best skaters, single or pairs, have a signature move—Dorothy Hamill’s twirl, Scott Hamilton leaping into the air, Michelle Kwan’s unparalleled change-of-edge spiral. Mars and Echolls were known for their pairs spin. It was magic. They changed positions, elevations, edges and feet, never fully separating while spinning at fantastic velocity. Audiences and judges alike were entranced, this night even more so. Logan and Veronica seemed to melt into each other on the ice and the spectators were caught in their spell.

As they came out of the spin and Logan dipped Veronica into their final pose, the crowd went insane, cheering and applauding, but the couple barely noticed. They had eyes only for each other. Veronica had never felt more complete in her life and Logan knew that his life was in Veronica’s eyes.

As the two of them sat with Joseph in the kiss and cry area, they clutched hands tightly. As the last skaters of the long program, they would know immediately where they would stand on the podium. That was the question—where they would stand, not if they would be there. Currently the Russians were ten points ahead of the Chinese and when the scores came up, Mars and Echolls landed firmly between the two pairs, earning the silver.

The crowd went wild. While the American public might have been hoping for the gold, the silver still represented the first U.S. pairs medal in 22 years and their best in 26. For their part, Logan and Veronica were ecstatic. They had done their best and achieved their dream—an Olympic medal. As they stood on the podium together, hands entwined, they had never felt more together.

Unlike Balk and Abramova, the Americans did not retire after the Olympics and when they competed at the Worlds two months later, they won gold. Six months after that, they got married in a beautiful, intimate ceremony.

As they lay on a secluded beach on St. Lucia during their honeymoon, Logan ran his fingers up and down his wife’s palm.

“I still can’t believe you kissed Bob Costas.”

“Why not? He’s hot—you know, for an older guy. And besides, it was on the cheek.”

“Uh-huh. Next time we see him, he’s totally gonna make a play for you.”

“I’m surprised he’s managed to stay away as long as he has,” Veronica laughed.

There was a pause and then Logan asked, “Do you want to keep competing?” They had already decided to take this year off, but they hadn’t made any firm decisions about subsequent seasons. They were still young and the question was whether to stay amateur or turn pro, both of which had legitimate arguments.

“I don’t think we’re going to be able to skate for awhile, actually.” Veronica’s eyes remained closed and Logan was reminded of their first kiss.

Logan was so excited that he didn’t remember jumping off of his own lounge chair. He just knew that suddenly he was kneeling by his wife’s side, his hand on her hair.

“We’re going to have a baby?!”

Veronica sat up and smiled. “I’m not positive, but I think so.”

Logan’s life was complete. This woman had healed him body and soul and now she was going to give him a family. He didn’t know for sure what path their life would take, but he knew that they would take it together. Veronica looked into her husband’s eyes and couldn’t wait to see where the journey would lead.

Sometimes the good guys do get to skate off into the sunset.

The End

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Comments

Oh, I so loved this one! The Cutting Edge is one of my favorite movies of all time, and I imagine you're pretty fond of it too. *grin* Actually, I love all things figure skating, though I'm such a klutz myself that I can barely walk on land much less dance on ice. And pairs skating is breathtaking. I went with some friends to see Scott Hamilton's pairs ice show a couple years back and I was stunned at what the ice fandom is like--those fans seem to know everything about their favorites from how long they've skated together to how they train to who's dating whom. I say this as if I'm not just as obsessed with Buffy or Veronica Mars. I guess crazy fangirls like company.

But I digress.... I really just wanted to say thanks for bringing two of my favorite things--LoVe and ice--together in this story. And I think I may want to rewatch The Cutting Edge for, I don't know, the 100th time this weekend. Somehow I just feel inspired. Hee!

Hee! I have to say this is one of my all-time favorite one-shots. LoVe plus figures skates. Hee! I'm so glad you enjoyed this!

I went to the U.S. Figure Skating Championships when they were held here in Atlanta and you're absolutely right - fangirls no know boundaries. :-) *sigh* America needs somebody amazing again - hey, I'll take them in any section (with the exception of ice dancing, which is kinda boring), but come on--something! :-)

This was amazing! They would be perfect partners on ice -- considering their difference in heights and the fact that they're both very passionate, competitive individuals. Together they would be unstoppable :D

Sometimes the good guys do get to skate off into the sunset.lol, great last line!